Category Archives: book three
Big “Fuzzy” Bad
Me. Sometimes.
I’ve been writing through the third book for a couple weeks now. I’m about 30,000 words in, which is really exciting. So exciting I might start bouncing.
One of the key developments in this book is that we not only get to meet the mysterious redhead who has been flitting about everyone’s visions for two books and learn her back story, but we find out that her back story includes one of the series Big Bads…before he was a Big Bad. Back when he was just Kinda Naughty and didn’t know what to do with himself.
The Big Bads often have some sort of Traumatic Life Event that takes them from being Kinda Naughty and maybe even contemplating Being Good to becoming the Big Bad. They don’t seem to cope well with stress.
I made a little graphic for you to illustrate this transformation, but I am a computer genius technologically illiterate, and its glory would burn your eyes so you have to click this link instead.
Anyway. The point of all this is that my Big Bad has a couple of sympathetic moments, especially when you realize he’s the dude from the the flashback. I thought about making him super conflicted and broody for a while, and while he kicked and screamed and dragged his legs behind me like a tantrumming toddler, I came to the decision that he wouldn’t do that. This guy is nothing if not decisive. He knows what he wants from life and the choices he’s made.
So no tearing him up inside. Because he’s already dead inside. The parts of him that could store any sympathy or compassion pretty much rusted away years ago. Besides, their story is tragic. It’s supposed to be. And he’s not a part of her life anymore — he’s just not.
So my Big Bad is not a Big “Fuzzy” Baddie. He’s not going to get any less terrifying. I thought he might for a minute there, but what do Big, Traumatized Bads do when someone makes them feel weak?
Something really, really Nasty.
Even though I know what happens in my story, I know how it all plays out, and I’ve known for a while what the Ultimate Big Bad was up to, seeing it coming just over the horizon now is rather sobering. It’s going to put my protagonists through hell, along with a big chunk of the world.
When all is said and done, though, I think it’s shaping up to be pretty…epic.
If ONLY it could be this epic.
Like this:
The Power of Three
Not in a Charmed sort of way, or not exactly. I began my current project with the idea that it was a standalone novel, but about fifty pages in, I realized that it needed to be a trilogy. A lot of my favorite books have been part of trilogies — from growing up with L.J. Smith’s Forbidden Game, Secret Circle, and Dark Visions (and for a while, Vampire Diaries before that got serialized) to Lord of the Rings and the Song of Albion trilogy by Stephen Lawhead. I like the possibility that exists within trilogies, but in the last couple days, I’ve been asking myself about the structure of the individual novels within a trilogy. I just read phenomenal series on structure by bestselling author Kristen Lamb, which you can find on her blog. (Start with the first installment; there are seven.) It made me rethink the structure of my first novel in particular, especially when it comes to the Big Bad. I love my Big Bads — they’re insidious and sometimes insane, and a couple of them have some great back story.
Andrew's depiction of the ultimate Big Bad: The First
Anyway, one of the points she makes is that each book should show the protagonist defeating that book’s Big Bad for the climax. It’s the way fiction has been done for ages, and I can’t say I disagree. While at first I felt a wee bit trod upon by the statement, it made me think seriously about the way the structure of a novel affects the experience readers have with it. Must every book end with the Big Bad dead? No. Sometimes the Big Bad is as incorporeal as the big, dumb The First. But there is a reason things like “rising action” and “climax” exist.
It’s a little bit like sex that way, I suppose. No one really wants to get busy, get bored, and then have it be over. I find it interesting that terminology for plot corresponds pretty directly with terminology for sex, if you substitute “introduction” for “arousal,” but really when you write a novel, you want your intro to get your reader so hot and bothered that they can’t stop.
That paragraph ended up in a different place than it started out.
I’ve started the third book of my trilogy, and coupling (aaaaah, sexy words, get outta my blog!) that with the series on structure I just read, it’s gotten me thinking about how my books “flow.” As Ms. Kristin Lynn (different Kristen) said the other day, that word is annoying and nebulous. I’m not even sure what it means without using it to define itself, and that’s just silly. Unfortunately, that misty little concept manifests itself in the way of poor plot sometimes. What I don’t want is for my readers to be reading along, reading along, then BAM ZING POOF, big scene, then reading along for another 100 pages until the end leaves them unfulfilled and lonely, sobbing in a corner.
So structure is important, especially in the situation where you want your readers to pick up the next book. That’s a tricky thing to juggle — you need to resolve the plot of the first book whilst simultaneously tickling their fancy enough to buy the second and third. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Then you can do THIS!
Ideally, a trilogy should be structured something like this:
Book 1
1. Introduce protagonist, who should be super cool and sympathetic.
2. Introduce antagonist, who should be scary/obnoxious/full of boogers. This includes the Little Big Bad and the Big Big Bad (who probably will exist until the last book).
3. Introduce small and large goals (large goals further the series, small ones further the book.
4. Build tension (think power chords and minor keys).
5. BIG CLIMAX!!!
6. Resolve Big Climax, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs that lead you to….
Book 2
1. Introduce/refresh protagonist.
2. Reiterate Big Big Bad and introduce Little Big Bad.
3. Big “You Are Here” in terms of big goals, introduce little goals.
4. Tension, Tension, Tension! Bah, bah, baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!
5. BIGGER CLIMAX!!!
6. Resolution and more bread crumbs. Maybe a couple chunks of baguette instead of just crumbs. If you’ve done your other steps right, your readers should gobble them up and cry that there’s no more until…
Cue credits.
Book 3
1. In my humble opinion, this should intro protagonist(s) and establish good tension from the beginning, especially in a fantasy series. Your readers have been hurtling toward destiny like the prologue script in a Star Wars movie, and they should already have some momentum saved up for Le Grande Finale.
2. OMG, Big Big Bad!
3. Goals like a heat-based missile…neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyuuuuuurm ……PPPPSSSSHGHGHGH. (See above.)
4. Tension so thick you could land an airliner on it!
5. GINORMOUS CLIMAX!
6. Resolution, nostalgia, and sniffles.
All of that is just my opinion, and it’s definitely a big fat generalization of plotting (which I’m only reluctantly admitting is necessary), but there it is. If those things are done, your trilogy (and hopefully mine) will be dynamite!
Hopefully more successful than this guy.
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Realism and Urban Fantasy
Last night I wrapped up the second book of my trilogy and began on book three. While book two definitely posed some challenges and obstacles (hell, I stopped in the middle and wrote book one when I realized the story didn’t really start there), this last one is going to be the most involved in some ways.
For starters, my primary POV protagonist (though it will switch between Sarah and Anna as well) is a 400-year-old vampire. Her back story is fascinating to me as well as being integral to the progression of the series, so last night I wrote upwards of 3,000 words of historical fiction.
I already know some stuff about 17th century Poland — or more correctly, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that existed at the time. I know in 1655 the Swedes invaded (that’s when her home was burned to the ground and she ended up becoming a vampire), but other things I had to look up, like this dude:
Fabulous hat, sir.
Regardless of the fashion of the times, I want to create little forays into the past that pluck the reader out of the 21st century and punt them backwards, so they feel the grit, the reality of a life back then.
For my dear little Ewunia, she has a rough go of things. So there are a good number of things I need to look up and figure out. For instance:
What would have been the role of a widowed merchant’s only daughter? Would she have been educated at all? What sort of practical skills might she have, if any?
How exactly were women of the day treated? Would she have been on the cusp of being married to someone twice her age? Probably.
What would an invading army do with stray women? (I think I already know the answer to that — it hasn’t changed in five thousand years since the dawn of time.)
Muskets or arrows or bolts?
What would Ewunia have worn given her sex and social class? What did 17th century Poles eat?
In spite of the relatively short amount of time my book will spend in the 17th century, I need to go back there to hunt myself. I need to learn more about this world Ewunia is at the mercy of once her father is dead and her home burned to the ground. Because ultimately, I want readers to understand why she makes the choices she does, and her background will determine a lot of that. Not to mention the vampire who makes her one — he is very important to the story, and his development gives me some chills to think about. He’s a little bit like Anakin Skywalker, but with fangs and an old Swedish name instead.
Speaking of him, his name is the one I had to change, as was Ewunia’s, to protect the validity of their characters. They’re supposed to be centuries old, so his name wouldn’t be Damon. Plus, Ewunia begins to go by Elaine later, and I realized the Polish version of that is Elena (and not common)…Elena and Damon? Dammit, Vampire Diaries.
So yeah, they’re now Ewunia and Einarr, circa 1655. I like “Einarr.” It means one warrior, which suits him. And his chosen replacement name later will be nice and ironic.
I’ll probably have a wee bit more to say on this as I continue to write, gentle viewers. Until then, love your characters, love your story, and be true to it however you know best.
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Day 10 and Novel 2
Day 10 winds its way to a close with some fabulous news.
Elemental is finished.
During my many hours at Panera today for my Corridor Writers write-in, my word count for the novel hit 111,000, and as tomorrow is 11/11/11, I decided it was done. Just kidding. That wasn’t my reasoning, but I found that the story didn’t need another 10,000 words. More might happen in the rewrite, but for now it’s finished.
You know what that means?
That means I have written TWO WHOLE BOOKS!!!!!!!
Yeah, sorry for the spaz attack. I felt it was merited. Two whole books, and a quarter million words. Geez oh Pete’s, that sounds like a lot of words. Probably because it is.
I am now about 2,500 words into book three, going way back in time and into some nitty gritty historical urban fantasy for the prologue, which is interesting but exhausting — and torturing a character is never that fun for me. I feel bad for her. She’s a little shaky, but she will evolve. And we’ll get to see that happen.
We will also learn the back story of one of the trilogy’s major antagonists, one of the superbad baddies. And that is worth it, for sure. He will grow a sympathetic side for a time — although that time is four hundred years ago.
So here we go. Book three of three. Wish me luck.
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I Said I’d Be Back
Thus quoth Arnold the Governator on the Terminator 2 3-D experience at Universal Studios Orlando on my honeymoon. And whaddya know? Here I am, gentle viewers. I’m back.
I apologize for the pre-during-post-wedding absence, as well as the confession that I teared up during the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride at the Wizarding World in Orlando. Yet that all happened, and now I’m here again, watching the leaves selectively change on the tree outside my balcony and jealous that my now-husband has a job where he is appreciated and paid for a valued skill and I don’t.
Now where was I? Pity party aside, I spent the last couple weeks thinking a lot about my second draft in spite of the honeymoon. Part of what has prodded those thoughts along has been my re-reading of the Anita Blake series. I’ve been reading the books over very critically, turning my eye to things I do myself (that I consider failings) and watching for things that are done particularly well (that jump off the page and rip my throat out).
The first book in the series is mired in the passive tense. Mired. Caught in sludge and almost drowned. I remember not being able to get into it when I first read it and that it took several tries to get through. The rest aren’t like that — if you watch for those things, you can see Ms. Hamilton’s evolution as a writer in even the first few books of the series.
Reading is fuel. It fills up my tank and makes me want to write when I get stuck in the sludge myself. Right now, Anita Blake is hauling me back to the keyboard to start typing again. I may have limited time and a lonely sense of helplessness pouring out of my professional life, but the determination is still there.
The holidays are approaching, and I know they can be hectic, but part of what the fledgling stage of marriage has impressed upon me is the need to move forward. The need to contribute, to do something I am passionate about. And so I write. I will write. I will read. I will publish my stories and market them to the best of my ability.
I have more than one horse to climb back up on post-honeymoon. A lot fell by the wayside in the past couple weeks and months as the wedding sort of took over everything. I was warned (correctly, it seems) that the doldrums may await our return from Orlando’s sun and playtime. That, if nothing else, is a nice spur in my behind that might succeed in getting my feet back in the stirrups. There are goals to meet, agents to win over, and a bright shiny novel to polish till it blinds you.
On the subject of the novel, I have a great deal to commit to paper. The night after we flew back in, my husband (yep, still sounds weird) and I went to see Thrice play in Towson. One of the other bands that opened for them marvelously formed a backdrop for some deep pondering as I listened. Their sounds haunted me, pulled forth tendrils of the conclusion of my story. It is a trilogy, you see, so the third book is rather important. I hadn’t thought much into it before, aside from a few forays and snippets, but as O Brother played, for the first time the protagonist of the third book sunk her fangs into me. She’s a cool wind from a dark, dark cave. She is lovely and strong and somehow more important than the other two main women who lead the first two books and their narratives. She is the key to everything that unfolds. A guardian and a protector. A survivor. She sacrificed everything to be that person, and she did it without thinking twice. She is stunning and bright and one of the most interesting characters I’ve met from this world. I can’t wait to start putting her on paper, seeing what flows out.
There was a clarity that came through that music. I think I might just be forced to get their CDs on my computer so that I can listen to them when I start my first draft of book three. I have a feeling it’ll be useful to open up those gates again. Music can be a mysterious muse, but a reliable one. Sense memory is a powerful thing.
Aside from returning to my trusty constipated dinosaur of a computer, I also need to return to the workout world. I may or may not have eaten my weight in burgers over the course of the honeymoon, and let me just say that yes, the calories still count when you’re celebrating. At least to the scale. Yikes. I met a fabulous pair of gingers at the Maryland Renaissance Festival a couple weeks ago, and they fight with swords. They said I could be their medium ginger (not often that I would be called medium at five foot ten — large ginger tops six feet), and that I could come play with pointy objects with them.
That came out wrong.
Anyway, if I’m to swing claymores and other swords about, I need to get my body back to the condition it was in a couple months ago before the wedding stress dove down my throat in the form of ice cream, more ice cream, pizza, and more ice cream. But I digress.
The stories have returned to swirl about my brain, my fingers are itching to let them out, and life is supposed to return to whatever state of normal it hovers near. I’d say it’s about time I get my bum in gear, don’t you, gentle viewers? As Rafiki would say to his little fingerpainted lion on the inside of his treehouse, “It is time.”
Or perhaps he’d just run around banging me on the head with his staff and singing, “Asante sana, squash banana, wewe nugu mimi hapana…”
The honeymoon is over. Now the real work begins.
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In Production
Yesterday was a blazing success of productivity for me. My fiance had music stuff to do, so I found myself plunked in front of the dinosaur to do battle with a stream of inexplicable ants and get about 10,000 words or so done in my revising of the novel and blogging.
No idea where those ants are coming from or what they’re after, but they’re prolific and make my skin tickle as if they’re crawling all over me. Ew.
I wish today could be the same, but alas my one day weekend is over, and it’s time for me to go back to work. Tonight will see me in a very short skirt serving up a new beer and hoping I make money. If they’re making me flaunt what I’ve got for the night, I better be well-compensated. As my grandma would say, lawdy.
I discovered this blog yesterday, for which I’m quite happy. The author is also working on revising her novel, and reading her blog makes me feel like I’m not so alone in this little sphere of revision. On the subject of revision, she discovered a gem of an article titled 25 Ways to Improve Your Writing in 30 Minutes a Day, which may sound cumbersome, but it is pure sparkling fairy dust, gentle viewers. Check it out.
In terms of novel, I’m right about at the novel’s climax for my second draft. Going into this next bit is going to be rough on poor Sarah, and I know some streamlining, precision, and clarity (thank you, Writers Digest) to ensure that the resolution that follows the wham pow crumbling action is at the same time satisfying and tantalizing. There’s a book two after book one, and a book three after that. I need to give my readers some clarity on the situation without giving away too much and tugging them on toward the second book.
My goal with this project is to have the first draft of the second book completed (it’s at about 85% right now) by the time I start an active search for agents. I want to be able to wave my arms and say, “Look! I can write consistently! If you decide to be my partner in this, I promise you I will work my arse off to make this a viable career for myself and make money for you by writing a book a year and each one better than the last. Love and kisses!”
While it’s not the kiss of true love that punts me toward happily ever after, having the next book in a semblance of completion can’t hurt. It can only help show that I’m serious.
Anyway, I know my characters are stronger this time around. I fixed a heap of dialogue issues when it came to a few Scottish characters whose accents looked nonexistent on the page in the first draft except for the occasional verbal tic, and I’ve gotten much closer to the tone of grit and quirk I was looking for. I’m even getting excited to start working on the final book in the trilogy, because my main POV character in that one is actually a vampire. She was born that way, and she’s three hundred years old. Writing from her perspective is going to be challenging and enlightening. I can’t wait. Ah, the joys of urban fantasy. I get to daydream all day and then write it down.
Onward with the progress! The end of draft two is in sight — I can smell it.
